Bure’s Two Goals, Two Assists Power Panthers

This time there was no last-second heartbreak for Florida Panther goalie Roberto Luongo. Pavel Bure saw to that.

Bure had two goals, including the winner, and two assists Wednesday night as the Panthers defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2, at Sunrise, Fla.

Bure’s 31 goals tied him with Markus Naslund of the Vancouver Canucks for the NHL lead.

Those goals weren’t there the last time the teams met, Jan. 19 at Buffalo. That time, Luongo played brilliantly, but received no offensive support at all. Denis Hamel scored with 7.9 seconds to play in regulation, sending Luongo home a 1-0 loser.

“It’s good to know that I could bounce back from the last time, and that game,” Luongo said. “It was nice to get this kind of support tonight.”

This time the Panthers scored four goals in the final period and tied a season high with five overall.

Peter Worrell, Bure and Olli Jokinen scored in a 1:47 span of the period as the Panthers came back after trailing most of the game.

“That was the best third period of the year,” Bure said. “To score four goals--it can’t get any better than that.”

Bure has 50 game-winning goals in his career.

Toronto 4, Carolina 3--Sergei Berezin scored goals 3:34 apart at Raleigh, N.C., and Curtis Joseph moved into 15th place on the all-time victory list.

Toronto scored only 11 goals in its previous seven games but Berezin and Mats Sundin, who had a goal and two assists, provided enough offense against the Hurricanes.

Joseph’s 306th victory moved him past Billy Smith. Ed Belfour of the Dallas Stars is next at 327.

Edmonton 3, Chicago 2--Rookie Shawn Horcoff scored the winning goal midway through the third period and Tommy Salo made 23 saves for the Oilers at Edmonton, Canada.

New York Islanders 3, New Jersey 2--Brad Isbister’s power-play goal early in the third period capped a three-goal rally and goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 36 shots for the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y.

Detroit 3, Columbus 2--Steve Yzerman flipped in a loose puck a minute into overtime to lift the Red Wings at Columbus, Ohio.

New York Rangers 4, Montreal 2--Petr Nedved had two goals and an assist and linemate Jan Hlavac added a goal and two assists to lead the Rangers at New York.

Philadelphia 5, Pittsburgh 1--Mark Recchi had two goals and two assists as the Flyers dominated at Pittsburgh in what was easily the Penguins’ worst performance since Mario Lemieux’s return.

Around the League

Goaltender Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche was cleared in a domestic violence case in Littleton, Colo., that stemmed from a heated argument with his wife about in-laws. The judge dismissed the case, ruling it fell short of the standard needed for misdemeanor criminal mischief during an act of domestic violence.